Rang De Basanti 2006 (Movie Review)

Dir: Raykesh Omprakash Mehta
Starring: Aamir Khan, Soha Khan, Siddharth Narayan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, Alice Patten    
Dur: 2 hrs 35 mins
Genre: Drama
Rating: 4/5
PG: Bloodshed and a few swear words.

Youth are the strength of the nation. This is no mere platitude aimed at making the youth feel proud of their identity and status; it is a fact, although it often goes unnoticed or untapped. Rang De Basanti aims at waking the youth to their responsibility as citizens of the nation. Politics is given a bad name by the numerous scams and overall corruption associated with it but politics, in itself isn’t a bad thing. It’s a good thing used for a bad purpose. This film tries to rescue politics from its degraded status and present it in better light.

I had imagined the film being based on the freedom struggle but I was surprised when the film opened with a young British journalist making a choice to come to India to popularize the Indian revolutionary struggle for freedom. In fact this young lady is a key character of the film. She personifies great respect for India and its heritage and in particular for its freedom heroes. Her noble ambition is met with a nonchalant response from the Indians. This for me was a stunner. I wasn’t angry because I knew deep down that what was shown in reel is a fact, to a large extent in the real.

She chooses a set of actors who also happen to be a group of friends, to play the characters in her documentary. As they make progress, which at times is slow and depressing, they begin to experience a change. The lines between reel and real blur. The movie real takes off from the accidental death of one of the gang. The fight for justice leads them to re-live the experiences of the characters they portrayed in the documentary.


The story is well-crafted and the ideas are put in a very appealing way. The film aims at awakening the Indian populace and the young in particular. The actors all play college youngsters. Ideals, romance, passion, friendship and the gamut of experiences that constitute youth, find their place in the film. This adds to the sheen and appeal. The music tracks are fairly good but the choreography could do with some more creativity and life. The actors are wonderful and give their best. The film is inspiring and must be watched by every young person.  

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